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Canada got the last hurrah at the Celebration of Light Saturday evening, closing the three-night event with a winning display. Canada was declared the winner of the event, with Brazil and China finishing second and third, respectively.

Snow boarder Maelle Ricker leads Canada's medal haul

Maelle Ricker, centre, from Canada waves to the crowd after she won the gold medal as Dominique Maltais, left, from Canada, finished second, and Helene Olafsen, right, finished third at the Women's Snowboard Cross competition Saturday, January 26, 2013 at the FIS Snowboard World Championship in Stoneham, Que.

Photograph by: Clement Allard
, THE CANADIAN PRESS

The NHL finally returned to the ice in the past week, but with all due respect to goal scoring machine Patrick Marleau of Aneroid, Sask., the most spectacular show on ice and snow on the weekend was turned in by Canada’s other winter sport athletes.

In world championship and World Cup competition around the globe, Canadians recorded five wins, six seconds and a third.

And in Olympic disciplines at X Games, where the best-of-the-best are invited, it was one gold, two silver and three bronze.

“It’s super exciting,” Ricker, a North Vancouver native, said of the bountiful medal haul just a year out from the Sochi 2014 Olympics. “It’s really showing that the Own the Podium program after 2010 is still working and actually going beyond.

“Hopefully, it continues to rise through the (Sochi) Games and into the future.”

Ricker’s world championship gold on Saturday at Stoneham, Que., was a long time coming for the woman with the sweet giggle and steely determination.

The 34-year-old has won FIS Crystal Globes for season titles and Olympic gold in 2010 at Cypress, but never a world title. She was eighth in 2001, sat out 2003 with a bad knee, than was third in ’05, fifth in ’07, fourth in ’09 and fourth again in 2011.

“It’s extremely satisfying,” Ricker said of her big win. “It’s definitely something that was missing, just not performing on the right day. It was a little bit of a thorn in my side and a big goal going into this season.”

Ricker was the fastest qualifier among the 24 women to move into six-boarder heat racing. She led wire-to-wire in her quarterfinal and semifinal, then got out front again in the final over the tricky five-jump start section into the opening corner. Right behind her, however, was Canada’s other dominant SBX competitor, Dominique Maltais.

“In the last third of the course, I definitely felt Dom on my shoulder,” said Ricker. “It was the only part of the course she was faster than me. We saw that on video all week. But I stayed calm, kept my body moving forward and beat her to the line by a board length.”

Ricker and Maltais, 32, were easily the oldest riders in a final that featured a pair of teenagers and two others in their early 20s.

“We’re the dinosaurs of the group,” said a laughing Ricker. “But experience plays a lot in these technical races. It’s definitely something I have to use to my advantage since I don’t have youth on my side anymore. I have to be smart with my training, smart with some of my landings.”

Canada’s other world championship winner Saturday was no surprise as Calgary’s Kaillie Humphries, the most dominant woman driver bobsleigh has ever known, defended her title at St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Humphries, also the reigning Olympic champion, and first-year brakeman Chelsey Valois of Zenon Park, Sask., had a four-run combined time of four minutes, 30.31 seconds to finish 0.68 ahead of the American duo of Elana Meyers and Katie Eberling.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Calgary’s Humphries, who has won 10 of 12 international races over the last year. “Our goal all year was to win world championships. And to do it in St. Moritz . . . the birthplace of our sport and the longest track in the world that demands experience and skill, it means the world to me to win the world championships here.”

On Sunday, Chris Spring and brakeman Lascelles Brown were a Canadian-best sixth in the men’s two man event won by Francesco Friedrich of Germany. Lyndon Rush and Jesse Lumsden were 10th.

FAST TIMES: Christine Nesbitt placed first and second in a pair of 1,000 metre races on the weekend at the ISU world sprint speedskating championships, but failed to repeat as overall winner after finishing just 12th in two 500 metre races.

Nesbitt’s speciality is the middle distance races – she was the Olympic gold medalist at 1,000 metres in 2010 – and she blitzed the field in Saturday’s 1,000, winning in a season-best time of one minute, 12.91 seconds, 0.77 better than Britanny Bowe of the U.S.

“I just felt that every stride I took, especially in the first 200 metres, I was getting pressure right away and that allowed me to carry lots of speed in the first lap and then build speed off that.”

On Sunday, her time of 1:13.28 left her 0.09 behind Heather Richardson. The American, who was fourth in the 500 and third in both the 1,000 and 500 on Saturday, claimed the overall sprint title.

Meantime, Jamie Gregg of Edmonton was second both days in the men’s 500 behind Joji Kato of Japan, while Junio Gilmore of Calgary made the podium Sunday in third place.

MOGULS MANIA: In Calgary, Justine Dufuor-Lapointe, 18, and her sister, Chloe, went 1-2 in a World Cup event, with promising 17-year-old Andi Naude of Okanagan Falls finishing sixth. Quebecer Mikael Kingsbury, with his 18th consecutive podium finish, captured the men’s event for his 13th career win.

Maelle Ricker, centre, from Canada waves to the crowd after she won the gold medal as Dominique Maltais, left, from Canada, finished second, and Helene Olafsen, right, finished third at the Women's Snowboard Cross competition Saturday, January 26, 2013 at the FIS Snowboard World Championship in Stoneham, Que.

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